Kaiser brings its health care model to Loveland

One-stop-shop medical offices open Monday

By Craig Young Reporter-Herald Staff Writer

Posted:
09/28/2012 06:50:08 PM MDT

Chad Harr, left, and Joseph Schmidt, with Arapahoe Sign Arts, hang a sign Thursday at the new Kaiser Permanente building in preparation for the Monday opening of their Loveland office.
(
Jenny Sparks
)

For Heather Dennis and the 6,000 or so other people in Northern Colorado insured by Kaiser Permanente, the drive to the doctor's office is getting a lot shorter.

Kaiser, an integrated health organization that offers its members doctors, X-rays, a laboratory and pharmacy all under one roof, will open its new medical offices in Loveland and Fort Collins on Monday.

Dennis, a Loveland resident, estimates she drove to Longmont or Lafayette -- Kaiser's closest facilities -- at least 16 times over the past year during her pregnancy and the first five months of her new daughter's life.

This summer, Kaiser had a "soft opening" in temporary medical offices in Northern Colorado, serving some of its members who live in the area. Dennis said her family has used the temporary Loveland clinic since early August.

"Oh my goodness, it's so much more convenient, and the people there are awesome," she said Friday. "It's so nice, especially when you have a sick baby ... instead of making that trip all the way down with a crying baby in the car."

Partnership with Banner Health

Kaiser, which serves more than half a million members in Colorado at 26 medical offices, announced in December that it would expand into Northern Colorado.

It is partnering with Banner Health, which owns McKee Medical Center in Loveland and operates North Colorado Medical Center in Greeley.

Kaiser also plans to open a Greeley location in 2014.

Patients will see primary-care physicians at the Kaiser clinics, have access to Banner's network of specialists in the area and use McKee and North Colorado Medical Center.

When it opens Monday, the Loveland office will have on staff a pediatrician, internist and family medicine physician with a second family practice doctor arriving Oct. 15.

The Loveland and Fort Collins clinics will have about 20 employees each.

Dr. Patrick Kusek, a pediatrician with Kaiser in Westminster who is the physician chief in Loveland and Fort Collins, said the organization also will bring four subspecialties to its northern offices.

He said a dermatologist will come to Loveland every Monday, and he's also working on endocrinology, rheumatology and sleep medicine.

Focus on the Patient Experience

On Thursday, workers were installing lights, signs and putting other finishing touches on the Loveland clinic.

The facility -- former home of the Eheart flooring store -- features carefully placed touches of color from the Kaiser palette of blue and green, plus artwork everywhere, including pieces by Loveland and Fort Collins artists.

Lisa Hernandez, medical office administrator for the two Northern Colorado locations, described how Kaiser employees will work to make patients' experiences as smooth as possible.

Intake workers will greet patients as they arrive, inform staffers upstairs, who will be able to greet the patients by name and direct them to their next stops.

With the pharmacy, lab and medical imaging -- including mammography -- in the same place, "when they walk in the building, anything they need they can get there," Kusek said.

And when they're not on site, members will have online access to test results, Kaiser spokeswoman Amy Whited said, and they can renew prescriptions, schedule appointments and email their doctors.

Kaiser and Banner also are working to synchronize their electronic medical records systems, she said.

Moving into the Market

Whited said Kaiser representatives have been meeting with insurance brokers and employers in Northern Colorado to educate them about the organization's offerings.

"I think most of the employers would welcome another option available in the market," he said. "When you look back in the '70s, there were like 75 different companies marketing health products in the state of Colorado. Today basically there is a handful."

He said Kaiser is the only "staff model" health maintenance organization, with its own physicians and clinics.

Shirazi said some companies that his firm works with have been asking about Kaiser, but none has switched over to the organization's plans yet.

In addition to corporate coverage, Whited said the company is starting to sell its Senior Advantage Plans and individual plans, which would go into effect Jan. 1, 2013.

Crews finish work on the new Kaiser Permanente building Thursday in Johnstown in preparation for the Monday opening of their Loveland office. A kinetic sculpture by Fort Collins artist Jan Carson hangs in the entrance.
(
Jenny Sparks
)